


Fall Through Night

by GingerIsTheCat



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Epic, Female Friendship, Friendship, Introspection, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 15:44:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9827102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerIsTheCat/pseuds/GingerIsTheCat
Summary: Clara and Ashildr are traveling the universe as planned, when the unforeseen consequences of Clara's undeadness come up. Unwilling to shorten their trip, they go in search of the one Timelord who can help them - and it's not The Doctor. What they find will change Clara's view of him forever, however. I'm also writing a sister story which occurs at the same time, featuring the 12th Doctor, "Wander Through Starlight". I was inspired by thisismyplayground's amazing work, This is Yesterday.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [This is Yesterday](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5441846) by [thisismyplayground](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisismyplayground/pseuds/thisismyplayground). 



                              

"Gallifrey, the long way round."

When Clara and Ashilda flew off in their Tardis, they had no idea where they were going. Clara just wanted to run as far as possible. So they just ran, barely giving themselves a moment to remember why. Since then they'd been running for three solid months. Nothing can be avoided forever, however, and Clara finally resigned herself to the inevitability of a brief return to Earth.

Now it was a breezy summer night in East London,. and they had just finished spiriting away a few favorite pieces of clothing and items of sentimental value out of Clara's flat. As she wiped one last stray tear from her cheek, Clara felt envious of the Doctor. He wouldn't have to feel the pain of what they'd lost, because he'd never remember it. It's true, she thought. "ignorance is bliss" Completely cliche, certainly nothing she'd ever encourage her students to use, but very true nonetheless. She suddenly thought of her students. How long had it been? She certainly couldn't go back to teaching them, not with mandatory bi - yearly physicals, which would surely uncover her alarming lack of a pulse. Still, she'd have to say goodbye to them, otherwise they'd think something terrible had happened to her. And something had, to be perfectly honest, just not quite anything she could easily explain to them. Anyway, she cared too much to disappear without popping in first and making up a nice comforting story to explain why. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure she could ever permanently return to earth. Not only would it be very risky, because of the Timelords, but she still had this insatiable urge to run and see everything before her end came. And what about her father, and her Nan? How would she ever explain to them why she had to disappear and never see them again? Suddenly she realized just how much she had lost, and she fought off a tearful breakdown as she felt the full weight of it crash down on her. Ashilda put a supportive hand on her shoulder. "This is what it's going to be like, you know. I won't lie, being immortal brings a near eternity of loss." Clara gave her a pained smile, grateful for the honesty, as she thrust one of the last travel bags in. What was that Ernest Hemingway quote that she had her class memorize the last time she'd seen them? Ah yes, "If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it"

 _"_ _It's not the goodbye that hurts, its the flashbacks that follow"_

"Saying goodbye is the most painful way of solving a problem." this random internet meme Ashilda had once happened upon suddenly resurfaced from the abyss of her memory and resonated through her mind as she stalked off into the Tardis. She hated seeing Clara like this. Ever since they'd first met, she'd been attracted to her spirit and zest for life , which was noticeably quenched for the moment. She felt badly about what had happened between the Doctor and Clara, but at the same time she relished the opportunity to develop a friendship with her.

Hopefully she could recover from this, given time. Goodness knows how long it had taken her to get over her first few millennia of loss. After that it had dulled and formed into this great indiscrete mass of faint melancholy. She wasn't sure if that's what she wished upon Clara, having the past all fade out into a vague meaningless pain. Perhaps it would be better to remember what is was she had to be sad about, were that even possible. That was another thing about being immortal. The extended view of reality tended to make one rather pessimistic as any hopeful thoughts that might pop up were often shot down by experience. You might not remember all of it, but you had an idea how it generally played out in the end.

Inside the Tardis Clara was already setting the controls in a frenzy and trying very hard to avoid Ashilda's gaze. "So where to now? I suppose you can't just drop off the face of the Earth. Your School perhaps?" Ashilda asked

Do I really have to? Clara asked with a slightly annoyed whining.

I think so. Ashilda answered unwaveringly.

"Oh, what would I tell them anyway, that I'm getting married? " Clara replied pessimistically

"That would work" Ashilda said kindly.

Clara smiled "They would want to know who, and beg to be at the wedding. Or I could just let them think I've gone on a long holiday, or some great adventure."

Ashilda smiled back gently "That would work too"

"I can't even think of what to tell Dad and Nan. Goodbye, I'm dead, but not exactly. I'm a dead girl walking. A fugitive on the run from a powerful race you've never heard of capable of chasing me down across space and destroying everything I love if I don't comply. Actually, strike that. I'm not dead or alive. Or, I'm dead and alive at the same time, until it all falls apart, and then I'm really dead. "

A cheeky smile crept across Ashilda's face "Can I call you Schoedinger?"

"Ash, this isn't funny." Clara's face was frayed with worry, but she still smiled as she saw the humor.

"Ok, we'll figure out something for them later. Your students then?"

Clara turned to her resolutely. "Why does it have to be goodbye anyway. The Doctor is right, goodbyes are rot. If we never say it, then at least they'll always have hope that I'll come back. Why take that from them? Isn't hope a good thing?"

"It will be false hope, and you know you'll only be doing it to keep yourself in denial."

Clara sighed. "You're right. I have to at least leave a note. But I can't bear to see their faces"

"Fair enough." Ashilda relented.

Clara set the dials and pulled the lever, causing the Tardis to create that wonderful rushing feeling of flying while standing still as it flew forwards in time. It was indescribable and addictive. It wasn't like moving in an enclosed moving vehicle; it actually was if the current of some unseen dimension was torrenting around them, rushing at incredible speed. And then sometimes the feeling of falling. Clara always expected her hair to fly to around her, but it never did. She glanced over the console at Ashilda, and as she smiled back at her, for a moment she felt like they were some wild pirates sailing off wherever the wind might take them. The Tardis lurched as they reached their destination, and out of nostalgia Clara left on the brakes for a moment. She loved that noise. They stepped out onto the grassy knoll Clara had landed them on and looked off at Coalhill School stood in the distance. The air was warm and breezy; Clara had purposely landed them mid-summer break, July 13th. There would be less people to explain things to this way. Of course, there would be the few stray students stuck there for summer school, but she could avoid them, hopefully. She had written a very nice note explaining that she had gotten a wonderful offer to teach abroad, that she had to accept immediately or they would give the position to someone else - and finally the hardest part to write- that she would not be returning the following Autumn. She explained how much she had loved teaching them, but that she couldn't back out now. She also had a note for the headmaster, simply explaining her resignation, and asking him to make sure her class got the letter. Setting both on her desk, she suddenly heard a scream. Her protective instincts reared up full force and she ran down the hall to where it had come from. A young girl stood in the middle of the classroom surrounded by several other people, and pointing at something. The teacher looked bewildered, and started speaking sternly to the girl. Suddenly a look of horror came across her face too, and they all started backing up to the door. Clara peeked through the door window and saw what had caused the commotion; it was a huge demonic rat with wings, glowing red eyes, and fangs. It's wings were colorful like a parrot, and it gave off a violently wild vibe as it subtly fluttered them while perching on freakishly long legs.. Clara pulled open the door, causing them to all rush through the door. She shut it quickly, hoping to trap the beast, but when she looked in the winged rat was gone.

"What on earth is going on here. Courtney, why are you in summer school?"

The poor summer school teacher was sobbing in fear now, and Clara felt tempted to reach out and reassure her. "We've had children disappearing. We thought it must be common child snatchers . But now we know what it was... that thing " she said starting sobbing wildly and pointing. "It's so horrible. She -" the woman spoke with a Welsh accent.

"What did it do? Did it take anyone else just now?" Clara asked with

"It snatched up Lauren before it disappeared. I fear it must have killed her by now."

"We don't know that for sure. It could still be somewhere around here with her. I'm Clara, one of the on-staff teachers here."

"Do you think you can find it? We've had policemen down before and they didn't find anything."

Clara tried to comfort her. "Well, this obviously isn't a normal situation. That thing could be anything. It looked like a cross between a rat and a bird. And you know what rats and birds keep, don't you? A nest, that's what. So I'm thinking that's where it's putting the children. And it can fly, so you can bet it's off somewhere in a hard to reach place."

"And feeding them to it's young, I suppose."

"Possibly, but we won't know for sure until we find it." Clara looked around. "My friend Ashilda is around here somewhere. I asked her to stay where she was, in our ride, but I know she wouldn't have."

As if on cue, Ashilda appeared from down the hall with a look of worry forming across her face."Clara, there's a bandersnatch in your classroom"

* * *

 Chapter 2

"A bandersnatch? Is that what it is? So should we find its natural predator? What would that be? A snark?" Clara asked.

"No, I think that's it's prey."Ashildr said.

"Well nevermind that! Let's go catch it" the teacher cried impatiently

"Trust me, that thing is not going to just let us catch it" Ashildr said. "I happen to have some experience with bandersnatches; it takes cunning and stealth to catch one."

"How did you stop it last time?" Clara asked.

"I had help from an elderly white knight who appeared out of the woods. He was eccentric, but he got the job done. " Ashildr replied.

"Hmm." Clara said.

"He sounded Scottish." Ashildr mused.

"Figures."

"We had to track down a vorpel sword to do it." Ashildr said.

"I don't even know what that is. What's a vorpel sword?" Clara said.

"It's made from electromagnetic charge and it confuses the bandersnatch's innate compass" Ashildr said.

"You mean like the experiments with birds and a faraday cage?" Clara said.

"Exactly." Ashildr said.

"Ok, so...we just need a cellphone or powerline." Clara said.

"They don't emit enough energy to work, only about .2 watts. All we need is something transmitting at least 50 kilowatt of electromagnetic radiation, maybe an AM radio transmitter. They confuse birds up to 5 kilometers away. Do you have a school radio station by any chance?" Ashildr said.

The summer teacher had composed herself by this time and now spoke up "As a matter of fact, we do. But how do you suggest we use it against it exactly?" She asked.

"Obviously need some sort of trap to disorient it into." Ashildr said.

"So, you're just going to confuse it into walking into a trap? Like blindman's bluff?"

"Well, the knight just sort of pushed it into a deep pit we had dug, once it was sufficiently disoriented." Ashildr said.

"That's your plan?!" Clara said.

"Of course not, we don't have time to dig a pit." Ashildr said.

Clara glared at her a bit.

"And we have to make it go home. It doesn't belong here." Ashildr said.

"I'm glad you see that!" Clara said.

"Don't get giddy. I have no idea how to create the necessary portal." Ashildr said.

"What?"

"This creature is from another dimension, Clara."

Clara tilted her head critically "you've been to other dimensions?"

"It's never a good idea. I'm now banished from 27 of them."

"Out of how many?"

"Trivia. Let's figure out what to do with this thing. With sufficient power we could roast it!"

"Ashildr, we agreed, no unnecessary killing."

" Excuse me, but I rather like the idea of roasting it." The teacher piped in.

"No, roasting." Clara exclaimed holding up a finger with a sideways look at both of them.

"Alright then, Ashildr said in frustration, "we'll just have to contain it somewhere here. "

"In a box!" Clara exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" Ashildr said turning to her arms crossed, puzzled as to how this was a better idea than her pit.

"A timelord box the Doctor had in his Tardis."

"A timelord box inside the timelord box, seriously? And what do you mean 'had'?" Ashildr said

"I may have snatched a few things" Clara said.

"Clara You thief!" Ashildr said.

"To even things out. He can't have all the gadgets" Clara said.

"And how do we lure it to the trap?" Ashildr said.

"Isn't it obvious? We get it to chase us into the radius of the antenna and then trip it once it's wobbly. It's greatest weakness is its long flimsy legs." Clara said.

"And then?" Ashildr said.

"And then the shepherds crook." Clara said.

"Clara, I know it _looks_ like a bad joke, but - " Ashildr said.

"No no, it's another thing I snatched from the Doctor. He picked it up on Circadus-Commodissimum

4 and used it on bad vaudeville acts when he was particularly grumpy. I really just took it so he couldn't use it anymore. But the special thing about it is that it's made of a special material that lets it be remotely maneuvered with a certain infrared emitting device when within an electromagnetic field. We can use it to drag it into the box" Clara explained.

"Ok, sounds like a plan. Now to find the nasty thing. Let's start by checking on the children. Ms. Edwards, isn't that your name? You go look for tall perching places." Ashildr said.

THey trawled through the halls peeking through every room, until they came to the homeroom.

And up there on the stage was the beast, who had made it's nest up amidst the fly system's lines blocks, and counterweights. They quickly hid back behind the homeroom doors.

"Ashildr, you keep an eye on it, yeah? I'll go set up the trap." Clara said.

"Clara, that's too risky. We can't have it eating any more people. Ashildr said.

"You can't go running about with-" Clara said.

Hey!" Ashildr yelled, waving her arms.

"Ashildr, no! " Clara cried with panic.

"It can only follow one of us, and probably kill neither. The benefit of being immortal is that you can act a little bit braver than the situation warrants." Ashildr said as she stepped boldly towards the vicious flapping thing.

It was now thrushing down upon them.

* * *

Chapter 3

Running madly, Clara closed her eyes tight, waiting for its dirty claws to snatch her and filthy wings to enclose her. She heard it's horrible otherworldly caw echoing down the hall; it sounded like a mixture of a train-whistle's wail, a screeching hawk, and a badger being stepped on. She opening her eyes again just in time to sharply skid around the corner and further down the hall. She turned back and saw Ashildr running just behind her, who then turned down a hall with the Bandersnatch trailing close behind her. "To the door, just to the door", Clara thought to herself as she strained her legs to pound harder off the ground with each step. As she made it through the door, she heard a terrible scream. It was Ashildr. Fear struck in her heart, and she couldn't bear to think what it entailed.

Still, she went on to the radio tower, where she was more than relieved to find that Ms. Edwards had not listened at all, but had instead gone off to set up the entire contraption herself. A woman of good sense, Clara thought; the school was in good hands with her. Clara ran for the TARDIS and searched frantically for the box and crook. She found it hidden in the back of her wardrobe. She bounded back out the doors, hoping that it was not too late. She set it down and waited nervously for Ashildr to arrive with the monster. After what seemed like an eternity, Clara saw her running towards them, with the dreadful beast close at her heels. It screeched in fury, snapping and hissing with its terrible wings spread out to glide upon the air. Ms. Edwards turned on the radio transmitter, and as the monster approached the station, its flight became more and more erratic. It was working! It was obviously losing its concentration, and Ashildr took this opportunity to run past where Clara held the shepards hook and behind the large box, which lay on its side. Confused, the monster landed, saw Ashildr, and charged at the box. Just as it passed her, Clara held out the hook to trip it by its spindly legs. It was down! She threw the hook and the remote to Ashildr, who maneuvered it to hook the beast and drag it into the box, as the Bandersnatch screamed at the top of its lungs in outrage. By this time, it was so disoriented that it could not gather its wits before they had gotten it fully inside, and snapped the box shut. Out of breath, they all sat there for a moment, stunned that it had worked, albeit not exactly as they had planned. Ms. Edwards was the first to stand up, and as she brushed herself off, the other two women congratulated her on setting up the trap so well. "Oh, it was nothing, really. And I believe I know where the children are". She led them to the local church, which was the tallest building in the village. Sure enough, up at the top there was a nest of sorts, made out of mud and rubbish. The fire brigade, was called, and the children who had not yet been eaten were brought down. For the ones who had not made it, the whole village was in grief. Suddenly feeling out of place in such a moment, the two women slipped away.

* * *

 Chapter 4

 

Feeling relieved that they had survived the ordeal and solved the problem, they went off in the Tardis for one last stop. They parked it in front of the flat where her father, Gran, and stepmother lived, not far from where the doctor had parked his Tardis what seemed like an eternity ago. Clara ran across the grassy field, through the door, up the stairs, and down the hall until she reached the door. She knocked eagerly, and after a moment the door slowly opened to reveal her father standing there, looking frayed and tired.

 

"Clara" he said.

"Hey! I'm back. I thought I'd stop by since I was in town. I have lots to tell you." She looked at him concerned "you ok?".

He nodded and gestured" Come in, I have something to tell you too.

She bounded in and looked around, struck by the odd silence that permeated the usually cheerful room. "Where's Gran? It's not like her to miss my visits. Usually she's hugging me before I cross the threshold"

"Clara"...

A sinking feeling crept up in Clara's stomach. Something was seriously off, and she dreaded what it was. Gran had fallen ill a few times before Suddenly her all problems felt petty. "Dad, is something the matter with Gran? Is she in hospital? Why didn't you call me?"

When he didn't answer she moved to run to her grandmother's room, but her father blocked the way. She stared at him fiercely, and he stared back, not sure what to say. After a long pause , finally, he started. "Clara, your gran is dead. I've been trying to reach you for weeks. Where the hell have you been?" He sounded like he wanted to be angry, but was too exhausted from the weight of his grief.

"What? "Clara whispered in disbelief, pushing past her father and running to her grandmother's bedroom. The bed was neatly made, and the curtains drawn. It looked like her belongings had already been started to be packed away, by - no doubt.

She turned around with tear filled eyes to face her father, who had followed her.

"When did this happen? How…."

"Old age, Clara. She died peacefully from old age. I only wish you had been there to say goodbye…. I know how close you two were." He walked towards her "Sweetheart, where have you been? We were worried sick. Traveling is one thing, but not answering, even when your Nan is ill, that's not like you. We thought you were dead."

I'm sorry, I got caught up in… things. She said in a voice dulled by shock.

What kind of things? Were you in trouble?

Sort of… it's complicated. I was…. Working for a government agency for a time. UNIT Do you remember my friend? She said choking on tears.

The eccentric Swede? I might have known. But what government would hire him?

Yeah, well, he's a big deal with this particular agency. And I was helping him. You see, foreign powers were threatening and -

He didn't look like he believed any of it, but he didn't care at the moment.

"Oh Clara, come here." he said sadly as he pulled her into a hug. She wept softly into his shoulder as he held her.

Eventually she pulled away. They made a pained effort to chat for a few more minutes, and then she left.

"At least I still have you Clara, thank heaven for that." he said at the door.

She looked at him uneasily.

He paused "Are you going to disappear again?"

"I'll write"

Clara's throat clutched at this, and she nodded before running down the hall and back to the Tardis.

Ashildr looked alarmed at her friends condition as she burst in stridently

Clara, what happened? Is everything ok?

"Let's get out of here"

Clara, what happened?" Ashildr demanded in alarm.

"I couldn't do it. I couldn't tell him the bad news, because he had some of his own. While I was busy gallivanting with the Doctor across space my gran fell ill and died, and I wasn't even there to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry Clara." was all Ashildr could manage to say.

Clara nodded and grimly set the controls. She wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, and never come back.

* * *

 Chapter 5

 

In an effort to cheer her up and forget, Ashildr had elected that they do something Clara had always wanted to try; camping on another planet. And they had chosen the most beautiful one they could find.

The sky shimmered with iridescent color and the breeze blew through their hair as they embarked out onto the strange terrain. The earth was red and dusty, throwing up fine powder as they walked over it looking for a place to set up camp. Every once in awhile there was a patch of brilliantly violet grass.

Volcanic ash gently fell from the sky like snow and began to cover the ground.

The wind blew in a peculiar way, making a sort of chanting music as it moved over the landscape. Standing out in the otherwise barren terrain was a cool clear brook running through. Clara removed her shoes and stepped in. It tickled her feet; the water was carbonated. They went back to their rooms to change, and then went for a swim in the water. It was just what Clara needed. Feeling more relaxed, she went back in the Tardis. As she dressed, she thought about her adventures with Ashildr the last few months. Despite their friendship that had developed during that time, she had sensed some sort of tension between them. It seemed that something was bothering Ashildr, and she thought she knew what.

Clara was waiting for Ashildr as she came out of her room and into the console room. "Ash, there's been an elephant in the Tardis console room for the past few months, hasn't there?"

"I don't know what you mean" Ashildr retorted with a somewhat defensive air.

"Well, your part in my death." Clara answered sheepishly.

"What of it?"

"I want you to know that I'm over it. No hard feelings. "

"Not necessary, but thank you."

Clara's posture shifted at this and her gaze grew more pointed. "I mean how were you to know that I'd try to save Rigsy, right?" she said with blank yet intensely staring eyes.

"I assumed you would take the obvious path of solving the mystery and acquitting him." Ashildr answered cautiously.

"Right, my fault. All mine." she retorted briskly , followed by an oddly stiff smile.

Ashildr glared at Clara suspiciously. "Clara, I know you fairly well. Are you making a subtle suggestion?."

Clara blinked and looked innocent. "No. No, why do you say that? I never do that." she looked away, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

"Clara, please let's be friends. It's all in the past. " Ashildr reasoned with her.

Clara felt a twinge of guilt welling up. "Right. Of course. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"You are over it, aren't you? You can't think I meant any harm."

"Of course not." Clara's smile was now warm and genuine. "I was just being a cow. Now let's go have fun." she said with a carefree voice and quick a toss of her head towards the landscape.

"Didn't you say you called the Tardis that once? How did that end?"

"I couldn't find my room for a week after that." Clara said laughing.

* * *

 Chapter 6

 

 They spent the afternoon rock-climbing on the planet's many purple hued cliff-faces. Just as the dusky sky was shifting from twilight into night-time and the air grew cooler, they heard a cry echo out from across the darkened landscape. It sounded like that of a child.

"Ashildr, did you hear that?" Clara whispered in alarm. Ashildr nodded, and they resolved to find the source of the noise. After Clara went back to get a torch, they crept into the greater wilderness to investigate. 

They followed their bio-tracker until it led them to a small clearing. Nestled amongst the craggy rocks amidst the forlorn wilderness was a small child, crying softly in the dark. They slowly approached, trying not to startle her.

"Hello", Clara said kindly, kneeling down to smile at her. The crying stopped, and they could see that the child had frozen in terror.

"Who's there?" she called out after a moment.

"We're the rescue party" Ashildr answered.

"We heard you and came to see if you needed help", Clara added. "Are you lost?". The child nodded and walked over to them, looking somewhat assured.

"Yes, the shadows scared me".

Clara smiled at her. "I used to be scared of shadows too" she lied. In truth, as a child she had always loved it when the shadows grew long and fearsome at twilight. She had always pretended that they were monsters, chasing and stalking her across the grassy fields. But she wanted to make the little girl feel better. "But they're harmless" she went on.

 "Ahem" Ashildr suddenly interjected. "Clara, how often is it that something is harmless? Especially on a strange planet."

Clara raised her eyebrows at Ashildr, but turned back to the little girl. "Ok then, you'll know best. Do you think they're harmless?"

The girl shook her head, obviously upset. "They took my mother!" she cried. The two women stood up and looked at each other in concern.

"Are you sure you saw them do it? She could have just gone off somewhere. She could even be looking for you right now." Clara said in an attempt to comfort her.

The girl nodded, and led them to the spot where it had happened. "It came out of the tree and surrounded her, and then she was gone." They cast their eyes about and took in the dense dark woodland. They could barely see past the torch, but Ashildr noticed that what she could see of the dusty ground was undisturbed, with no footsteps to be found.

"What was your mother doing here anyway?" Clara asked.

"Picking berries". The voice of the girl answered.

"Hmm, there's not even enough light in this part of the woods at twilight for much of a shadow to be cast without a light" Ashildr mused. "Did it take the lantern too?".

Clara crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows as she tilted her head in perplexment. "How could it just disappear with someone like that?" she wondered out loud.

"It didn't. I'm right here", said the little girl in a strange tone.

Clara and Ashildr looked at her in confusion, and then froze in shock as they suddenly realized their situation. The girl's form darkened and faded away slowly, and they were filled with a new sense of dread. They started to back away before breaking into a full fledged scramble to get out of the woods. The shadow reappeared in front of them. "What do you want" Ashildr demanded of the form.

 

"I want a body". It replied.

"Well we're still using ours, sorry" Clara answered.

"That can be amended."

"Clara, just run" Ashildr said.

"Right, I would if I could. She's blocking the path" Clara said nodding to the apparition."Why would you want a body anyway? As you can see, they're somewhat cumbersome. Especially when you're trying to escape."

"True, _fleshling_ , but I require one to leave this planet."

"So possess a squirrel" Ashildr said.

The apparition screeched and flew at them. Instead of running, Clara thought quickly and shined her torch at it. It shriveled up in pain just long enough for them to flee towards the Tardis. Soon they saw the warm light flooding from its windows, and they flew towards it. Running in panic, Clara suddenly stumbled and stretched out her hands to catch herself, a sharp pain shot through them, despite the lack of any sharp objects. Ashildr dragged her up and onward towards the Tardis. Flinging themselves inside, they shut the doors just as the shadow was stretching a long black arm towards them.

They stood at the doors panting in terror and breathlessness for a moment, and then composed themselves enough to brush off their clothes and check the damage.

Clara froze. Now that they were back into normal lighting, she could see the source of her pain. The tips of her fingers, which had been sore even before she had fallen -around the time they were rock-climbing- were white, bloody and worn down like those of a leper, much more than would be expected from a small scrape.

* * *

 Chapter 7

 

Ashildr saw it too, and grabbed her hand in concern. "I was afraid of this."

Clara looked down at her worn gnarled white fingertips; The Doctor had meant it when he said that her cellular functions would be suspended, which apparently included cellular regeneration. Whether he had thought about this part was another question.

"So what should we do?" she asked.

Ashildr shrugged. "Shorten our trip?"

Clara looked more vulnerable than Ashildr had ever seen her. I'm not sure I can. I mean, when you have no choice, it's easier to be resigned when it's inevitable. But choosing it for yourself -"

Ashildr softened, realizing how callous she had been. "It was always going to happen, she said sympathetically. "It's just coming a lot sooner than we thought. Death is always like that. But what else can we do? Eventually you'll be nothing but a walking boneyard" Ashildr said looking her over critically.

"I know." Clara paused. "But Ash -"

"There's nothing we can do. Not without risking the universe in the process"

"But maybe there is. If there was someone who knew how it all worked, how to get around these things, maybe he could help."

Ashildr looked at her critically. "What do you mean? Who would know when the Doctor didn't""

"There are other Timelords right?"

"Yeah"

"They've mastered time. They've built an entire civilization that rests on bending its properties. At least one of them must know how to safely work with it to get around problems."

"You mean like an engineer?" Ashildr looked worried but intrigued. "Yes, I may have heard whispers of someone with that name, but his reputation is completely on deadlock. I have no idea what he's like or what he actually does " she paused "And Clara, I'm sorry to say this, but Timelords as a whole have never been particularly incorruptible. It comes with living long enough to know how to get your way, but not long enough to have learned that none of it matters." "trust me, I've met enough of them."

Clara looked offended. "You can't judge one person by the whole. Just look at the Doctor, he's dedicated his life to saving others. Anyway, the Engineer sounds pretty noble, if that's his name."

"Names can be misleading." Ashildr said

"Look Ash" said Clara turning to directly face her, suddenly growing exasperated "What do you suggest we do, because we're currently running low on options."

Ashildr sighed "You're right. It's just that something about this doesn't settle right with me.

"What other choice do we have?"

Ashildr and Clara sat quietly, neither of them wanting to acknowledge the obvious answer to that question.

"I won't make you do it Clara, that wouldn't be fair. But at least consider the risk before you let your fear decide for you. Think of what could happen. Where has he been all this time? Why isn't he openly spoken of?"

"I can't do it until I know there aren't any other options. If there aren't then I promise I'll go back and face my lot. At least allow me that."

Ashildr grew dark with apprehension. "All right Clara, it's your decision" "I'll help you find out where he is, but I can't come with you."

"Fine. Thanks."

"It's not that I wouldn't miss you Clara, I would that"

"Can you still? Clara spat out, frustrated. "After living so long death must feel like old news to you."

Ashildr looked slightly hurt at this. "I'm still human aren't I?"

After a moment Clara softened. "I'm sorry Ash. I know how hard it must be for you. I can't even imagine."

"And now you want the same fate."

"No, if we found the Engineer -"

"But that's still basically what you want. You want to cheat death without penalty, on your own terms. There would always be a raven waiting for you. That's what death is. When would the running stop?"

"I just want to live out my years naturally."

"It was natural."

"So you want me dead? Just because it's natural? You have no idea what I would give to bring some people back if I could. And do you know why? Because it was senseless. It was stupid. It was petty."

Ashildr sighed. "If it matters so much to you, we can do it. Maybe I am the one being irrational."

Clara gave her a bear hug that made her gasp for breath "Thank you Ashildr."

* * *

_**That's all I can post for now, only because I've come to another gap that I've not yet determined how to write out. I actually do have chapters written past that, all the way to the ending. So, hopefully once I get past this rough spot it will all be clear sailing. I'm sorry for the wait. Other matters (school) had me tied up, and I'm still rather tied up with it. Please review. What do you think of my characterizations, descriptions, plot, and overall writing ? Comments, complaints, or compliments, I'll be happy for any constructive feedback. Suggestions are welcome too!** _


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